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Sheridan, Wyoming – Main Street

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Mint Bar Bill Walsh
Kings Saddlery Sheridan
WYO Theatre credit David Brossard
5 Wyo Rodeo
4 Alternate Primary Mint Bar Bill Walsh Kings Saddlery Sheridan WYO Theatre credit David Brossard 5 Wyo Rodeo

With the Bighorn Mountains looming to the west and the orange-and-red neon sign of the restored WYO Theater as bright punctuation, Main Street in this north-central Wyoming town brings the Old West into the modern era.

Sheridan was founded in 1882, and more than 30 buildings along Main Street are still standing from its early decades. The Main Street area is a national historic district, but it’s no museum — Sheridan is a living community, and this broad avenue is its central shopping and strolling thoroughfare.

Named one of America’s “Great Neighborhoods” by the American Planning Association and one of “The West’s Best Main Streets” by Sunset magazine, Main Street has benefited from local historic preservation and design guidelines. Several downtown buildings have been renovated, electric lines were buried, period street lamps were installed, and a strong public-arts project was developed, with some 30 pieces on display around downtown.

Any visit to Main Street begins with the WYO Theater, which was built as a vaudeville venue in 1923 but closed its doors in 1982, seemingly for good. Then, town residents came together to save, renovate and reopen the theater. Today, it has a full schedule including performances by acts ranging from the Oak Ridge Boys and the Dance Theatre of Harlem to the Bolshoi Ballet, plus the Wyoming Theater Festival in September and films throughout the year.

Another must-stop on Main Street is King’s Saddlery, which includes the Don King Museum of Western and cowboy memorabilia.

Sheridan’s other neon landmark on Main Street is the bright-lit, multicolored cowboy on a bucking bronco that you can’t miss spotting above the corner in front of the Mint Bar. This 1907-vintage tavern stayed open during Prohibition as a soda shop and cigar store. Today, its walls are jam-packed with a memorable collection of stuffed game, historic photos and mementos.

The tavern’s website shares a quote from a touring musician: “The Mint Bar is the coolest thing about the great cowboy town of Sheridan, which is in a part of northern Wyoming that’s too cold and too remote for all the Californians to move there and ruin it.”

Photo credits (L-R): Sheridan Travel and Tourism, David Brossard, Jim Walsh, Gail Howard, Sheridan Travel and Tourism

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Cheyenne, Wyoming – Capitol Avenue

Main Streets 2016: Wyoming

Named after the Cheyenne Nation, Wyoming’s largest city became known as the “Magic City of the Plains” after it grew, practically overnight, into a sizable community after construction of the Union Pacific Railroad reached here in 1867. Today, Cheyenne embraces its western charm and is praised as a small city with large attributes. It’s also a great place to work and live — in part because there are no taxes on either corporate or personal income.

Capitol Avenue is home to the iconic Wrangler building, and on the corner of 15th and Capitol you’ll find the historic Union Pacific Cheyenne Depot. Located within the building is the Cheyenne Depot Museum, which draws visitors with a brewpub and restaurant along with tourism and economic development offices. In the warmer months, Cheyenne residents can enjoy concerts and festivals, farmer’s markets and other social and cultural gatherings in the city center. And of course the Wyoming State Capitol Building and Museum offer much to see and learn.

At the avenue’s northern end is Lions Park, where the landmark Cheyenne Botanic Gardens features 27 specialty gardens plus the Paul Smith Children’s Village. On the north end of the Gardens is Old Sadie, an 1890-vintage coal-powered steam locomotive that’s a favorite for kids, history buffs and everyone who loves the romance of old trains in the Old West. Sadie is one of the oldest intact locomotives ever to run on the Union Pacific tracks.

Past and present mingle in fascinating ways in Cheyenne. Today, renewable energy is a fast-growing U.S. industry — and Cheyenne, as one of America’s windiest cities, has become a growing center for wind energy. The state capitol is also home to Cheyenne Frontier Days, the nation’s largest outdoor rodeo.

With its array of ethnic festivals, performing arts, history and culture, Capitol Avenue has a well-deserved place in Main Streets Across America.

Street photo courtesy of Richard Grant
Botanic Garden photo courstey of Botanic Gardens

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